So here's wishing you guys A Happy New Year.
Well, I'm not really good with the well wishes because I don't really believe in them, so let us just skip that part.
Anyways, 2009 has been an awesome year for me, though I did struggle a little in school. In fact, it was actually one of the better years that I had in a long time.
Well, let's do a little track back, shall we? You see, 2005 was the year I struggled in secondary school, with having gotten suspension on the very first day itself. 2006 was the year where I was constantly 'fighting' with my teacher. Then came 2007, where I found out that the teacher who was teaching me for the past two years, was going to be my teacher again. Great.. It was also the year that my dearest pet, Shandy passed away. Moving on from that, 2008 soon came and it was the year I struggled with my studies. I was in the 'defiant - I don't need to study' mood and happened to only passed 2 subjects for Preliminary, but miraculously sailed through my 'O's, with tonnes of wake up calls and hard work of course. 2008 was soon over, and finally 2009 came.
I actually had high hopes for a new beginning in 2009 as I thought that going to the polytechnic would mean that I would be better exposed to more people, and I assumed that they would be more open-minded and easier to blend with. However, assumptions always make an ass out of us. I'm not saying that everyone I meet is difficult to hang with, but it actually took a really long time before people stopped assuming that I was someone scary, fierce or whatevs...
And it is actually because of this that I managed to find my identity and found ways to help me to stay true to myself. One of the major help was during the tat2 convention 2009. Well, it may seem like a very odd place to find my identity, but I did, and with the help of the people who attended the convention.
During the three short days that I was there, I managed to strike conversations with pastors, teachers, police officers, and even principals who were all covered in ink and piercings. What I found interesting was not the fact that they had tattoos and piercings, and were holding high statuses, but the fact that they managed to compromise and find a solution to keep their interest and their career going, without having any interference between the two.
Most of them were not from Singapore, but I managed to talk to one of the principals there and I asked about her tattoos and what she do if her students found out about her tattoo, and if it were not contradicting to have a tattoo, yet be in a career that should not support this type of art.
Her answer was simple but it made a lot of sense to me. She said: Why not? Tattoos and piercings are considered to me. I'm a principal and I do wear short sleeves, so I don't have tattoos inked on my arms. But I do have them on my back, my legs and anywhere that can be covered. It is difficult to have tattoos and be in this career because people still assume that tattoos and piercings would mean that you are in a gang. But no one should give up their interest or passion just for the sake of what others think. In fact, we should educate them and try to win them over, to convince them that tattoos and piercings are no harm. But at the same time, as a principal, I try to encourage my students to not go against their parents wishes or get a tattoo randomly because it stays for life. But at the same time, why not expose the kids to a newer generation of art? It's no harm done.
Those were the words that I remember vividly from the conversation. And from this, I realized that I did not have to give up on my interest of the extremes just because I'm in this field. All I have to do, is to be smart positioning and modifying myself, and in using my words to convince, but if all else fails, I still have to be me and do whatever I want to because no one should stop me from doing it. Because after all, I'm living my life, not them.
So yeah, 2009 was an identity crisis for me, but I managed to find it back, and even managed to have a blast through 2010. Well, it's the start of it, and unfortunately, it is not going as smoothly as I thought it would be, with school and home especially...
But let's just hope that all these bad stuff would clear off as we move in to Chinese New Year. Good food, good company, oh did I say good food?
Till then,
Loves.
Loves.
